Wizards of song: Arlen, Harburg, and the cumulative creation of the songs for The wizard of Oz (1939)
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Broadhurst, Laura Lynn.
Wizards of song: Arlen, Harburg, and the cumulative creation of the songs for The wizard of Oz (1939). Retrieved from
https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-ncs7-st74Export
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TitleWizards of song: Arlen, Harburg, and the cumulative creation of the songs for The wizard of Oz (1939)
Date Created2020
Other Date2020-05 (degree)
Extent1 online resource (x, 469) : illustrations
DescriptionThe extant sources for the songs in MGM’s The Wizard of Oz -- draft lyrics, studio piano-vocal manuscripts, early screenplays, and other artifacts -- afford fascinating insight into their creation. These heretofore largely untapped materials provide support for my thesis: each song cue within Oz’s final cut -- understood as an individual, fixed "work" -- was created via cumulative authorship along a figurative assembly line. To demonstrate this phenomenon, I trace the evolution of the songs through their sequential developmental stages over the course of the film’s three production phases: Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production.
Part I -- "Introduction" -- contains two chapters: Chapter 1 examines the factory-like Hollywood culture in which Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg wrote the Oz songs. The above thesis is presented early on, after which a theoretical discussion explores the argument’s thorny terminology and related concepts: "work," "text," "authorship," and artistic control. This opening chapter also encompasses a review of scholarship, a rationale for the project’s adopted archival approach, and an overview of the surviving sources. Chapter 2 offers a summary of Arlen and Harburg’s pre-Oz careers and outlines the circumstances leading to their assignment for the classic MGM film.
Attention then moves to the main body of the dissertation -- Part II, "The Cumulative Creation of the Oz Songs" -- which employs a three-chapter structure that mirrors the film’s tripartite production and its internal stages of the songs’ multi-handed, piecemeal assembly:
•Chapter 3 -- PRE-PRODUCTION: Genesis of the Songs (by Arlen and Harburg), Arrangement (by MGM staff), Orchestration (by yet different studio personnel);
•Chapter 4 -- PRODUCTION: Prerecording (with orchestra or piano), Shoot to Playback (songs filmed);
•Chapter 5 -- POST-PRODUCTION: Creation of Underscoring (by MGM Music Director Herbert Stothart and staff), Continued Development of the Songs (also by Stothart and staff), Previews (including musical editing), Final Cut Released.
Part III -- "Conclusion" -- comprises Chapter 6, covering Arlen and Harburg’s post-Oz achievements and the impact of the film’s release print on the songs’ authorship.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses, ETD doctoral
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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